Splitting VOB files

[caroljim1926@msn.com]

I recently had some old 8MM movies converted to digital. I am trying to edit them using MovieFactory 5.0. I find that the size of the file is too large (983 mb) to let me edit. I need to split the file. The company who did the conversion tells me that the file is in a VOB format and they have no way of splitting it. I have been searching the web to find some way to do the splitting. I have tried several programs but get a message that the format is not compatible. Does anyone know of a program or method that will work? Thanks for any help - Jim

[DVDDoug]

I find that the size of the file is too large (983 mb) to let me edit.

The file size is about right. Most DVDs contain a few ~1GB VOB files that are played-back sequentially when the DVD is played. If you try to splice them "manually" with a video editor, you will get a "glitch" where they join.

Choose the Import option. This will join the VOB files together to make one big MPG file. The large file size (a few GB) should not be a problem. This usually works, but for some reason it doesn't seem to work with all DVDs. I suspect that this feature is not fully debugged....

If Import doesn't work for you, another program you can try is VOB2MPG (FREE!!!). You can also find other "DVD to MPEG" programs if you search the Web.

The video in VOB files is in MPEG-2 format, and sometimes you can directly edit the VOB file... sometimes not. Sometimes simply renaming the file to .MPG helps.

WARNING - MPEG files can sometimes cause trouble. In fact, your VOB file may already have some slight corruption. (I call it "sneaky corruption" because the file often plays OK, but causes trouble when you edit it or try to make a DVD. )

I am trying to edit them...

WARNING - MPEG files can sometimes become corrupted during editing. If this happens to you, you can try saving the file as AVI/DV before editing. The downside is that the video will have to be re-coded to MPEG-2 before being converted back to DVD. MPEG-2 is "lossy" compression, so you may notice some loss of video quality due to the 2nd encode.

Another alternative (if you have MPEG editing problems) is to get a special-purpose MPEG editor. I have Womble (~ $100 USD). Note that most editing (other than simple cutting and splicing) will require re-coding, even with a special-purpose MPEG editor.

Good luck! Isn't this video editing stuff fun!

[Ken Berry]

You don't say which version of VS you are using. But VS10 was the first which actually allows you to insert VOB directly: right click in either the library pane or timeline, choose 'Insert Video' then direct it to where the VOB files are stored. Or choose File > Insert Media Files in Timeline (or Library) > Insert Video. But as Doug as said, you might get a slight jerkiness around where each VOB ends and the next one begins.

And to explain a little further about Doug's reference to 'Importing' the VOBs into VS, there is in fact no command labelled 'Import' in Video Studio -- though that is the term used in Movie Factory should you wish to continue using that i.e. on the first screen, choose the fourth icon in the top left of screen, the one with the disc showing.

In VS, when you right click or use File > Insert Media File as above, you choose 'Insert DVD/DVD-VR'. Point it to where the DVD containing your movies is and it should bring up a tree structure showing the titles on the disc. There is even a little preview window so you can see what each title contains. Then you select which titles you want to import by putting a tick in the little white boxes to the left of each title.

[GeorgeW]

And to explain a little further about Doug's reference to 'Importing' the VOBs into VS, there is in fact no command labelled 'Import' in Video Studio -- though that is the term used in Movie Factory should you wish to continue using that i.e. on the first screen, choose the fourth icon in the top left of screen, the one with the disc showing.

In VS, if you hit the CAPTURE tab along the top, you will have an option to Import from DVD/DVD-VR

Regards,
George

[Ken Berry]

Well, you learn something every day on this Forum! Thanks George.

[sjj1805]

I recently had some old 8MM movies converted to digital. I am trying to edit them using MovieFactory 5.0. I find that the size of the file is too large (983 mb) to let me edit. I need to split the file. The company who did the conversion tells me that the file is in a VOB format and they have no way of splitting it. I have been searching the web to find some way to do the splitting. I have tried several programs but get a message that the format is not compatible. Does anyone know of a program or method that will work? Thanks for any help - Jim

There is a bit of confusion here and it will have a major bearing upon the advice we can offer. You have posted this to the VideoStudio forum but appear to be using DVD MovieFactory 5.

Please confirm which software is being used so that we may advise you accordingly.

[caroljim1926@msn.com]

Thank you very much - I tried the [b]IMPORT[/b] option and it worked fine. Regards - Jim